Independence Day :
Strengthening our sovereignty
On Independence Day we recap the restoration of Sri Lanka's
sovereignty usurped by colonial powers. Our thoughts are on re-affirming
the commitment to strengthen national sovereignty.
That assertion should be premised on the question what should we be
realistically afraid of? Identifying those determined to jeopardize our
security and how best to annul plots of those crawling out of the
woodwork to resurrect the vanquished foreign terrorist scourge are
vital.
The guns have been silenced yet threats and alignments aimed against
us need to be heeded. The remnant Tiger outfits posing as phony human
rights watchdogs openly championing the same Eelam myth are making a
charade of the West's much flaunted proscription of terrorism.
The security watch must be unwaveringly fastened. Sovereignty had to
be heroically defended during a long secessionist war and that should
never happen again. In a multi-polar world where globalization and
information technology dominate and threats to security abound such as
waning Western powers seeking new alignments, demarcation of new State
boundaries like in Sudan, climate degradation, fragile energy networks
and resource competition, to name a few.
National interest and security
National interest is equated with national security and rightly so.
That was demonstratively clear leading to the successful elimination of
Tiger terrorism. We have an excellent counter-terrorism structure-the
best in history thanks to what transferred during the successful war
effort led by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
We need to consolidate intelligence gathering and inject a greater
sense of alertness in order to foretell monsters in the making like the
LTTE eruption. Ominous signs of conspiracy must be nipped in the bud.
That said both local and foreign antagonists are discernible among
those who audaciously predicted that we would lose the war against
terror and worse, the propaganda war. Our victory had become a constant
irritant to the naysayers. Those refusing to accept that buoyant
political stability and economic vibes are engulfing the country today
must be won over.
We need to broadcast country's efforts to unify in a variety of ways
relaying the new image of optimism. North and East resurgence is
irrefutably occurring at a fast pace. Nearly 60 percent of the
minorities co-exist with the majority community along with some of the
kith and kin of the Tiger Diaspora. Yet those striving to go against the
grain are flagrantly intractable and not amenable to persuasion.
We need to work with our friends no nation can work alone in order to
silence the Eelamists turned secessionists, or any lethal combination of
arms syndicates, international mafias, drug cartels and terrorist groups
bent on eroding our newly won prowess towards greater achievements.
In-depth assessment
Independence Day calls for an in-depth assessment to deal with
remnant notions regarding armed conflict-local and foreign. Wagons
circling with flags, insignia and the vile rhetoric to boot feed their
frenzy. WikiLeaks confirmed our fears that Western internationalists
have yet to reconcile their cynical frown with the paradigm shift
successfully achieved by Sri Lankans and their leaders. Puckered brows
await our diplomats when they meet their Western counterparts.
For most Sri Lankans the memories of forced constitutional
contrivances planted on them are still vividly real. No such externally
injected amendments, revisions or adjustments are needed any more. Yet
they keep on coming.
New operational alignments
Realigned international groups are the main operational building
blocks of conspiracy now due to the waning influences Western powers in
Asia. East Timor, Kosovo and South Sudan were begotten almost to
precision.
The peace negotiators arriving in Sri Lanka in sheep's clothing were
also at work in Sudan simultaneously. The mindset prevalent in the
country is that our strategy to nip in the bud all perceived threats to
our sovereignty must prevail. That should become the corner stone of our
foreign policy.
Humanitarian and catastrophe are two words that motivate the
internationalist in a jiffy. They would be here in a frenzy screaming
penalties, sanctions and war crimes witch-hunt. Vanishing Tiger hegemony
at Nandikadal attracted a swarm of R2Pers. Their cherished Eelam puppet
had surrounded himself with a 'human shield.' Rescuing him was
imperative.
That attempt failed but the perpetrators waiting to intervene to take
away our sovereignty are still at it. Threats ignored would become a
pandemic. The new national security ethic must prevail. We owe it to
ourselves.
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